Author: Opening Arguments Media LLC

OA1174 - Matt is coming in hot from the front lines of immigration court for an exclusive firsthand account of how a new secret memo directed to ICE's attorneys is trying to unilaterally redefine immigration reality and prime the machine for a new era of mass detention well beyond anything this country has even seen before. In better news: an actual federal judge restores sanity in the surprisingly-difficult-to-locate federal district of central California, and a footnote on why some unexpected federal job openings might be good news for people who hate fascism.

• “ICE declares millions of undocumented immigrants ineligible for bond,” Maria Sachetti and Carol Leonning, The Washington Post (7/15/25) (via MSN)

• Judge Maame Uwusi-Mensah Frimpong’s findings and TRO against ICE in Perdomo v. Noem (7/11/25)

• Board of Immigration Appeals decision in Matter of Q. Li, 29 I&N Dec. 66 (BIA 2025)

• Alito’s majority decision in Jennings v. Rodriguez (2018) 

Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

And Professor Heather Varanini has brought us our next question as we study for the Bar Exam!

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OA1173 - More people have been to space than practice space law, and Professor Michelle Hanlon is one of its most important modern pioneers. Professor Hanlon joins to talk Star Trek captains, preserving historic sites on the Moon, and why she believes the mass privatization of space is--at least if properly regulated--the only way forward.

• Prof. Michelle Hanlon’s University of Mississippi faculty biography

• “Why Are We All So Obsessed with the Moon?”, Michelle Hanlon, New York Times  (12/7/2024)

• The Artemis Accords (signed 10/30/2020)

• “The Wild Wild West of Space Law,” Michael O’Shea, The Walrus (8/13/2020)

Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

OA1172 - It’s been two weeks since the Supreme Court decided that babies in only half of the US get to be born as citizens. We try to make sense of what they left behind in one of the most important shadow docket cases in history, and how concerned Samuel Alito should really be that the actual text of the 14th Amendment might still prevail in the end. Matt also considers how likely it is that Zohran Mamdani might lose his citizenship over his rap lyrics, and we wrap with a quick footnote combining two of our favorite things: bad AI in court and Mike Lindell.

• Trump v. CASA (6/27/25)

• Judge LaPlante’s order certifying class in Barbara v. Trump (7/10/2025)

• DOJ memo re: priorities including denaturalization (6/11/2025)

Professor Heather Varanini is here to get us ready for the Bar Exam with the next question!If you'd like to play along with T3BE, here's what to do: hop on Bluesky, follow Openargs, find the post that has this episode, and quote it with your answer! Or, go to our Subreddit and look for the appropriate T3BE posting. Or best of all, become a patron at patreon.com/law and play there!

Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org.

OA1171 - Today's episode is a nice, fun departure from the doom and gloom. Oral arguments in a recent SCOTUS case went terribly wrong. And for once, it wasn't the court itself that was looking like a clown show. The case was AJT v Osseo and it involved disability rights. So naturally, I had to invite everyone's favorite disability rights advocate and all around all-star, Dr. Jenessa Seymour!

 

Hey folks, I'm taking a little time off! Hope you enjoy this SIO in the meantime. Thank you!

Part 1: The Legal Stuff

Dr. Jenessa Seymour is here to break down something that even our moms are spreading on social media: a group in New York claims to have uncovered discrepancies in the vote count for the 2024 election, and they're suing over it! Dr. Seymour hits ALL of the expert boxes for this one - statistics, voting rights, the law, and New York.

Want part 2 early? Head to Patreon.com/seriouspod!

OA1170 - This Rapid Response Friday it’s Boh-vey (yes that is how you pronounce it, probably) all day--as in former Trump defense attorney and current Trump henchman Emil Bove, now up for a seat formerly occupied by Samuel Alito on the Third Circuit. Matt ties together several different stories from the news--from January 6th to the Eric Adams prosecution to DOJ’s deportations in violation of court orders--together with this week’s stunning 27-page account from deep inside the DOJ provided by a former loyalist.

Finally, in today’s footnote: a pro se plaintiff invents a completely new way for AI to be useless in the courtroom

• Government’s Motion to Clarify in D.H.S.. v. D.V.D.:  (filed shortly after we recorded on 6/27/25)

• The U.S. Supreme Court’s order in D.H.S. v. D.V.D. (6/23/25) 

• Day 1 of Emil Bove’s confirmation hearing (6/25/26)

• Letter filed by Government Accountability Project on behalf of Erez Reuveni (6/25/25)

• Oral arguments before New York’s First Appellate Division (3/26/25)(clip starts at 19:29)

• Federal magistrate Barbara Holmes’s detention review decision in U.S. v. Kilmar Abrego Garcia (6/22/25)

 

If you'd like to play along with T3BE, here's what to do: hop on Bluesky, follow Openargs, find the post that has this episode, and quote it with your answer! Or, go to our Subreddit and look for the appropriate T3BE posting. Or best of all, become a patron at patreon.com/law and play there!

Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org.

OA1169 - We had our first live video QnA of the new era! It was so good that I really thought more folks should hear it. Thank you to all who attended and we look forward to the next one!

If you'd prefer to watch it, it's available on YouTube.